On iPhone you can make a Live Photo play as a loop, and you can set a video to repeat during playback — but neither creates a video file that is actually longer. To get a looped MP4 you can post, project or hand to someone else, you need to repeat the clip and re-export it.
What the built-in apps can and cannot do
- Photos: a Live Photo can be switched to Loop or Bounce. This only affects the Live Photo, not a normal video, and the exported file stays roughly the same length.
- iMovie: you can paste the same clip onto the timeline several times, but you have to do it manually and the total runtime is whatever the repeats add up to.
- Shortcuts: there is no built-in action that repeats a video to a target duration.
Make a real looped file from an iPhone clip
- AirDrop or sync the clip to a Mac or PC — iPhone recordings are usually H.264 or HEVC MOV files.
- Open LoopVideo in Chrome or Edge and drop the clip in. If an HEVC file will not decode, export it from Photos as "Most Compatible" to get H.264 first.
- Trim the section to repeat, then type the exact minutes and seconds you want the finished video to run.
- Keep the resolution at Source to preserve your iPhone's native size, or pick 4K if you recorded in 4K and want to be sure.
- Export the MP4 and send it back to your phone if you need it there.
Vertical clips
Vertical iPhone footage keeps its orientation and aspect ratio through the export, so a 1080x1920 recording stays 1080x1920 at Source resolution. That matters for Reels, Shorts and TikTok, where a re-framed export gets letterboxed.
Open LoopVideo to trim your clip, set an exact loop length in minutes and seconds, and export a high-bitrate MP4 up to 4K — in your browser, with no upload and no watermark.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I loop a video directly on my iPhone?
- You can make it repeat during playback, and Live Photos support Loop, but iOS has no built-in way to export a longer looping video file.
- Will the quality drop?
- The export is a single encode at a bitrate matched to your resolution and quality preset, so there is no repeated re-compression.
- Does this work in Safari?
- Preview generally works, but MP4 export relies on in-browser H.264 encoding that is reliable in Chrome and Edge on desktop.